The present invention relates to improvements to pop out handle locks of the type typically employed in vending machines, and which are utilized for the purpose of lockingly engaging the door to the main chamber of a vending machine or other such static structure.
Pop out handle locks are well-known, especially in conjunction with vending machines such as pop machines, candy machines and the like, wherein the vending machines are provided with a main chamber in which the goods which are to be vended are contained, and a door which is pivotly secured to the chamber, and which lockingly engages with the chamber As is well-known in the art, the door portion of the vending machine or other structure contains a lock mechanism which includes a pop out handle actuated by an appropriate key, which is exposed along the outer portion of the door. The interior portion of the lock mechanism includes a threaded lock stud which extends outwardly from the inside portion of the door and is typically adapted to be screw threaded into a stud receiving fixture which is fixedly secured to the inside portion of the chamber wherein the pop or candy goods are retained. As is well-known in the art, to unlock such a pop out handle lock, the operator inserts the proper key into a central key way provided in the pop out handle, which actuates the handle to pop outwardly towards the user. The handle is then turned in a counterclockwise direction which unscrews the lock stud from the internal lock fixture. The internal lock fixture includes a fixed nut which accepts and accommodates the threading and unthreading of the lock stud therein.
In order to lock the door to the chamber, the reverse procedure is employed such that the door is closed thereby orienting the threaded lock stud in linear alignment with the threaded nut contained within the lock fixture, and the pop handle then screw threaded in a clockwise direction such that the lock stud threadingly engages the fixed nut located in the locking fixture. Once the lock stud has been fully threadedly engaged within the lock fixture, the handle is depressed until a lock bolt engages maintaining the handle in a depressed position usually within a handle recess located in the door.
Various prior art patents show different versions of such pop out lock handle assemblies, including for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,089,330, which is directed to a lock assembly for a refrigerated cabinet or other such vending machine, and shows the typical pop out handle lock mechanism having the pop out handle at the exterior portion of the lock mechanism, and the threaded lock stud along the internal portion of the lock mechanism. As particularly shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings of U.S. Pat. No. 3,089,330, the lock stud 16 is screw threaded into a fixed cage nut 20 incident to the locking process. It is therefore appreciated that the locking and unlocking process requires that the handle pop out, and that the operator manipulate the handle in order to rotate the lock stud either in a clockwise direction to lock the device, or in a counterclockwise direction to unlock the device.
Other prior art patents show similar types of pop out handle assemblies, such as, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,316,742, which shows another version of a pop out handle lock which includes an axially movable clutch mechanism, representing an improvement in such lock assemblies, and as is further shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,412, which again is intended to show certain improvements in and to the lock mechanism. However, in each and every instance with respect to such prior art pop out handle lock mechanisms, the lock stud is intended to be screw threadedly engaged in a fixed cage nut, which is usually fixedly secured within the chamber of the coin mechanism thereby requiring a clockwise threading operation to lock the device, and a counterclockwise threading movement in order to unlock the mechanism.
It has now been deemed advisable to further improve upon pop out handle type lock mechanisms whereby such locking mechanisms may be made automatic in terms of the locking process. The present invention is therefore intended to further improve upon such pop out handle type lock assemblies by providing a lock mechanism which permits the automatic locking engagement of the lock stud to the lock mechanism thereby eliminating the need for the operator to screw thread the lock stud in the clockwise direction in order to effect the locking process.